


Ophelia

by Ischa



Category: Original Work
Genre: Community: zombi_fic_ation, Disturbing Themes, Feeding, Gen, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 19:32:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ischa/pseuds/Ischa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evening at the carnival. </p><p>
  <i>Marina was staring awestruck at the woman in the cell. She didn’t look like the things she’s seen in her books (but the photos in the books were grainy and bloody and mostly unfocused). She looked fairly normal Marina thought. Pretty even. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ophelia

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Icalynn

There was a commotion near the end of the room. Loud angry voices. Someone screamed. A girl. Marina turned her head in the direction the sounds were coming from. 

One of the guards/guides (you couldn’t really tell) was pushing by her, muttering under his breath, "Okay, who taunted the flesh eating dead person? Again." He sounded between pissed off and long suffering. 

It caught Marina’s attention. She’s heard, of course, of the Dead Woman Who Couldn’t Die. Who hadn’t living in this city? But she never had the courage to go and actually look at her. Her brother’s friend Mark told her he was lucky enough to be there when they had one of the public feedings. He told her and her brother, David, all about it and Marina’s stomach felt kinda funny after that tale. That might have been one reason why she was here today. David totally chickened out on her. 

She wanted to see for herself. She just needed a bit more time to actually go over there and look.  
She took a deep breath. She was already here, and the commotion seemed to have died down. She would wait a bit longer, maybe eat something, and then go over and look at the Dead Woman Who Couldn’t Die. 

She could totally do this. 

~+~  
Marina was staring awestruck at the woman in the cell. She didn’t look like the things she’s seen in her books (but the photos in the books were grainy and bloody and mostly unfocused). She looked fairly normal Marina thought. Pretty even. 

Slender body, pale skin, red hair. Like a fairy from the child’s books she used to read when she was a kid (sometimes she still read them, because she still liked them). 

There was no name attached to the cell only a Zero – or maybe an O. Maybe the woman’s name started with an O. Ophelia came to mind immediately. It wasn’t a common name or even modern enough, but Marina thought it fit the woman behind the glass. 

There was a tag beside the Zero (or O), that identified her as the last living survivor of the Plague. They called it the Plague these days, but they used to call it the Apocalypse back in the day when no one thought humanity would survive. 

But humanity always survived. 

Marina wasn’t sure the woman was really the last one. There might be others out there like her. In other countries. Trapped behind glass like Ophelia was. She tapped against the glass gently and the woman’s gaze snapped to her. Her eyes were milky blue. Marina had thought they would be green.  
The eyes looked dead, nothing else did, but the eyes… The woman’s nose twitched and her lips curled into something that could be a smile.  
The tag said she didn’t have any higher brain-function. Could someone without higher brain function even smile? Marian vowed to look that up.  
She smiled back tentatively. The woman shuffled closer to the big window. Her movements were jerky and made her look like…a corpse on strings. 

Marian looked around quickly, but there was no one close by. She put her hand to the cold glass. The woman did the same. Marina cocked her head, the woman followed.  
She was like a child, Marina thought, or a pet. There wasn’t anything scary about her at all. 

“Hey! Girl, step away from the glass,” one of the guides said. 

Marina startled and steppe away. “I-”

“What were you thinking? She is dangerous.”

“She’s behind glass,” Marina replied. 

The guard gave Ophelia a wary look. Ophelia snarled. Hmm, Marina thought, she doesn’t like the guard. 

“No loitering around here. Where are your parents?” 

“I’m fourteen. I can come alone.” 

“You look younger, let me see your ID,” he demanded, reaching for her. 

The woman in the cell banged against the glass like she wanted to break through. Like she was afraid for Marian. Marian stepped back from the guard and looked around. The corridor was empty and she couldn’t hear voices anymore. How long had she been standing here? 

“I should go…” she said unease creeping into her voice. 

“You go when I tell you to go!” The man yelled. 

The banging got louder. Marina was really scared now. Not of the woman, but of the man. She just knew on some primal level that he wanted to hurt her. And that he would. He was so much bigger and there was no one to hear her scream, except for the dead woman. 

He grabbed for her again and she struggled. “Let me go!”

“Shut up you dirty little who-”

He didn’t finish the sentence. The glass burst. 

~+~  
Marina was pressed against the wall farthest away from where Ophelia ate. She wanted to look away, but she just couldn’t. That was what the public feeding must have looked like she thought, but it was a dim thought. Her mind was shutting down a bit. She was shivering. Her whole body shaking. Ophelia made a noise as she tore an arm away and the man moaned in pain. Marian wished he would just die. Wished that Ophelia had gone for his jugular instead of his torso. It almost seemed like she wanted the man to suffer. Like she wanted him to die slowly.  
Marian wondered if the man had done this before, probably, if he’s done it to Ophelia too. Eternally young looking Ophelia who couldn’t tell anyone, because she couldn’t speak, because she wasn’t a real person anymore in the eyes of their society. It was cruel, Marina decided to put her on display like that. Even the clothes they put her in degraded Ophelia to a thing to be stared at.  
Ophelia tore one finger from the still attached hand and licked the blood away before she put the whole thing in her mouth. It looked a bit like a messy fry. 

What was she supposed to do now? Could she just go? Would Ophelia let her? She got up tentatively and brushed over her legs and skirt. She could always tell she stumbled and fell on her ass on the way home. Ophelia looked at her, but didn’t make a move to stop her as Marina inched closer to her. 

Marian discovered she could leave. Ophelia would not stop her. She was nearly at the door and then went back. Ophelia was still sitting in front of the dying man. Marian kicked him in the ribs and he moaned.  
“Just kill him and let’s get out of here,” Marian said and Ophelia made a noise that sounded happy before she tore into the man’s neck.


End file.
